Modalities - Cupping

Heated Cups

Traditional cupping, with the use of heated cups, also has some similarity to moxibustion therapy. Heating of the cups is the traditional method used to obtain suction: the hot air in the cups has a low density and, as the cups cool with the opening sealed by the skin, the pressure within the cups declines, sucking the skin into it. In this case, the cups are hot and have a stimulating effect similar to that of burning moxa wool. Some modern cups have a valve at the top of the jar and a small hand-operated pump is attached so that the practitioner can suction out air without relying on fire; thus, avoiding some hazards and having greater control over the amount of suction.

Slidding Cups

In order to allow easy movement of the glass cups along the skin, lotion, oil or other lubricant may be applied. Medicated massage oils (with extracts of herbs) are particularly useful for this purpose. There is some friction generated with sliding cups, so that there is a small but significant amount of heat applied by that method, especially if warming oil is used as lubricant. In the Chinese tradition, the cups are left in place for about 10 minutes (typical range is 5 - 15 minutes). The skin becomes reddened due to the congestion of blood flow. The Japanese method uses a lesser amount of stimulation.﻿

What is Cupping

Cupping refers to an ancient Chinese practice in which a cup is applied to the skin and the pressure in the cup is reduced so that the skin and superficial muscle layers are drawn into and held in the cup. In some cases, the cup may be moved while the suction of the skin is active, causing a local pulling of the skin and muscles (the technique is called sliding cups). This treatment has some relation to certain massage techniques, such as the rapid skin pinching along the back that is an important aspect of tuina. In that practice, the skin is pinched, sometimes at specific points (e.g., bladder meridian points), until a redness is generated. Cupping is applied to certain acupuncture points, as well as to areas of the body that are affected by pain (where the pain is deeper than the tissues to be pulled). When the cups are moved along the surface of the skin, the treatment is somewhat like guasha (literally, sand scraping), a folk remedy of southeast Asia which is often carried out by scraping the skin with a coin or other object with the intention of breaking up stagnation. Movement of the cups is a gentler technique than guasha, as a lubricant allows the cup to slide without causing as much of the subcutaneous bruising that is an objective of guasha. Still, a certain amount of discoloration is expected both from "static" cupping and sliding cups.